The invention relates to a method for operating a tissue processor, in which a reagent is fed from a container into a retort of the processor.
Tissue processors are used for automatic processing of histological tissue samples. In doing so, the tissue samples are prepared for subsequent section preparation with a microtome, followed by microscopic examination. In several stages, the tissue samples are at first dehydrated, cleared, hardened and subsequently stabilized with a carrier material, for example paraffin. This takes place using different reagents to which the tissue samples are exposed. A tissue processor which allows a largely automatic processing of the samples is illustrated and described in the Leica document “Leica ASP 300”, Leica Microsystems Nussloch GmbH, Order-No. 0704-2-0-103, April 2001.
For different process steps, which are executed with the aid of the tissue processor, the reagents are required in different concentrations. Partly the reagents can be bought as finished products with the required concentrations, and partly the required concentrations are self-produced, for example, by diluting the reagents, in particular a stock solution of the reagents.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to specify a method for operating a tissue processor, with which it can be easily checked whether a required reagent is suitable for a predetermined process step, or which method contributes to producing the reagent with the suitable concentration in an easy manner.